Hold on to Your Butts: Vandy Takes on Tennessee and Kentucky

I think my favorite movie of all time is Jurassic Park. Maybe its doesn't have the most in-depth, complicated plot. At times, I'll admit its super cheesy. But when I saw it as a 12-year-old, it was simply the most incredible thing I've ever seen.

Anyway, since its on TNT about 200 times a week, I can quote way too much of it. The best line of the movie is easily Samuel L. Jackson's classic "Hold on to your butts". Anytime Jackson is about to do anything important, that's his go-to line.

For some reason, that line has always stuck with me. Trust me, it works. Anytime you're about to do something important—sending out a proposal, about to give a presentation, making a serious phone call—just say "Hold on to your butts". It reminds you of how serious things are, but lets you smile for a bit before things get started.

Well, this is one of those weeks for Vanderbilt.

Everybody knows this is about as tough as it gets in the SEC. The Commodores square off against Tennessee tomorrow in Knoxville, then travel to Lexington to play Kentucky this weekend.

First, I think Vandy can win both games. It won't be easy or likely, but it can happen. With that being said, there are a number of things that scare me about both games. Sometimes as a fan, you want to think about the worst-case scenario. That's where I'm at now, and here's some bad stuff that I've came up with:

Getting off to a slow start

Is there anything worse than playing from behind the entire game? If either game starts off like the Illinois game, I'm turning off my TV and going to bed. The Auburn game showed that the 'Dores can make a comeback, but I'm not so sure if it can happen in a really hostile environment.

Playing two teams that are coming off of disappointing losses

Tennessee just got hammered by Georgia. As one of the ESPN guys said, Georgia has to be the best last-place team in any power conference. Kentucky just became the unanimous No. 1 team in the country, got a call from Barack Obama, and then lost at South Carolina.

Both Bruce Pearl and John Calipari will be all over their teams to play their hearts out in front of their home crowds. UT and UK will be hungry and out for revenge. Those two losses just made the games tougher for Vanderbilt.

Rebounding..well it may be a struggle

After watching Kentucky's big guys, it makes you wonder how Vandy will match up. Kentucky rotated a three-man front line of DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, and Daniel Orton. What about the Vols? Wayne Chism and Kenny Hall won't make things easy. Also, it's hard to rebound when a team puts up a lot of long-range shots.